Jaime Lupercio at MITOS

By Melissa Eidson

Oaxaca City in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, surrounded by a sea of mountains, has long been known for its folk art, but is now growing in reputation for its fine art; the birthplace of the late masters Rufino Tamayo, Rodolfo Nieto and Rodolfo Morales, Oaxaca is also home to the Mexican master Francisco Toledo. But it is the younger generation of Oaxacan artists that has been defined by critics as a distinct Oaxacan school of art. Oaxacan art is born from native Indian culture, myths and legends. It is suffused with “magical realism,” full of people who fly within magical juxtapositions. The poet Alberto Blanco once said that the artists of Oaxaca, “all tend to depict one theme: the appearance in our history of another time and place. A space within another space. A time within another time.”

MITOS en San Miguel de Allende has recently acquired various works from the Oaxacan school of art, including Toledo, Andriacci, Montes, Lupercio and many others. Our inventory generally includes paintings, aquatints, serigraphs, lithographs, sculpture and art furniture. MITOS will also begin carrying art cards (notecards and postcards) of works by contemporary artists of Oaxaca. Located at San Francisco 10 in the city center of San Miguel de Allende, MITOS sits inside an 18th-century church. It is open every day, noon to 6pm.

On Saturday, July 12, at 5pm, MITOS will have an opening of new large paintings by Oaxacan artist Jaime Lupercio, who studied art at the national school of painting, sculpture and engraving, La Esmeralda, of the National Institute of Fine Arts. His work has been selected to be exhibited in salons and biennials such as the National Salon of Plastic Arts, painting section in the third national meeting of young art and the first biennale of painting Diego Rivera, to name a few of the most prominent in 1986.

He has participated in multiple solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries in Mexico, Argentina, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Switzerland, Italy and Cuba. His work has been discussed in more than 50 catalogues, books, newspapers and magazines, national and international publications.

At the beginning of 2012 one of his works was included in the collection Nivada, a collection based in the José Luis Cuevas Museum of Mexico City. During 2013 he exhibited in different galleries and museums, collectively at the Museum of Modern Art and the José Luis Cuevas Museum in Mexico City, the Arcadio Pagaza Museum in Valle de Bravo, and the Museum of Modern Art of Toluca.

During 2014 he made 25 drawings based on the text of the book Alice in Wonderland. Also, his series of paintings “Subterfuges of Iridescence, the Pretext of Color” were individually shown in the Museum Towers bicentennial of Toluca. He has participated in the exhibitions “7 Expressions 7” at the Museum Casa del Risco, “Circus, Maroma and Color” exhibition at The Gallery Space in Switzerland and in the exhibition “Nature Live” at the Gallery of Monte Alban, Mexico City.

The exhibit of paintings by Jaime Lupercio will open on Saturday, July 12, at 5pm at MITOS Art Space, San Francisco 10.